As is well known in the art, a soldering reflow system often is used in automatically mounting electrical connectors to appropriate electrical apparatus, such as printed circuit boards. Specifically, an electrical connector is secured by a vacuum-suction nozzle of a pick and place machine, and the connector is adjusted in position and brought to a selected location on a printed circuit board, for instance, by the vacuum-suction nozzle. The connector then is released from the nozzle by stopping application of negative pressure thereto. Then, the soldering reflow system is employed to solder appropriate terminals of the connector to selected circuit traces on the printed circuit board.
Some electrical connectors are provided with a generally planar, smooth top surface for engagement by the vacuum-suction nozzle. However, many connectors have irregular top surfaces, and the terminals may even project upwardly from the connector, thus preventing the direct use of vacuum-suction nozzles. With the latter type of connectors, it is known to use replaceable covers releasably mounted on the connector housing to facilitate use of a vacuum-suction nozzle, with the covers intended to be removed after the soldering reflow operation.
Problems are encountered with removable covers of the character described above. In particular, a downward force is required to mount the cover onto the connector housing, and an equal upward force is required to remove the cover from the housing after the soldering operation. "Upward" and "downward" forces are forces generally perpendicular to the printed circuit board or other electrical apparatus. Obviously, the forces required to hold the cover to the connector housing must be greater than the forces needed to prevent the cover from coming off of the housing during movement or adjustment by the vacuum-suction nozzle. After the soldering reflow operation, these significant forces are overcome to remove the cover from the housing, and these significant forces pull on the solder interfaces between the terminals and the circuit traces which could damage or break the interfaces or solder connections.
The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a cover which is retained on the connector housing with substantial forces in a direction normal to the printed circuit board or other electrical apparatus, but the cover is mounted to the housing and removed therefrom with minimal forces laterally of that direction.